Uninvited guests now welcome at Gov. Scott school visits

Gov. Rick Scott met with a half-dozen
parents and four students at Gadsden
Elementary Magnet
School, also known as GEMS, this afternoon.
But the room had many other listening ears, including school and elected
officials and members of the media.

Things were different today. At GEMS in Quincy, Scott was
joined by Gadsden
schools Superintendent Reginald James, State Rep. Alan Williams, a Democrat who represents the area, and even Sheriff Morris Young. The media was
allowed to listen in and take notes during the entire session, although audio
and video recording was limited.

Scott said the complaints earlier in the week didn’t
influence his decision to open up access during his schools listening tour, which
continues Monday in Fort Walton Beach.
He said he wanted the parents, students and teachers he met with to feel free
to speak openly, and as they expressed that comfort level he allowed more
visitors to attend.

“The biggest thing we’re trying to do is make sure we create
the environment where they could feel comfortable talking,” he said. “So depending
on where it was, some people they were comfortable.”

The governor had the same open-access policy at his second visit of the day, the brand new Governor’s Charter
Academy School
in Tallahassee and the only charter school on his listening tour thus far. Scott is also taking suggestions about public education on his website.

He said he will use all the information he gathered during his weeklong tour to help shape his plan for the upcoming legislative session. Among the topics that have come up most frequently during the week:
standardized testing, rewarding teachers, parental involvement, school choice
and school funding.

“I talk to parents, I talk to students, I talk to teachers,
I talk to business people," Scott said. "They know that education is the most important
thing we can be doing, and they bring up their ideas and their concerns. And I
want to try to coalesce these with a plan to improve our education (system).”

Scott may face his toughest crowd yet tonight when he meets
with teachers union representatives from across the state at a dinner
at the governor’s mansion. Stay tuned to Naked Politics for updates.